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Perhaps you're encouraged by the recent Gallup findings touting: "U.S. Managers Boast Best Work Engagement." If you consider that since the recession started until 2012 the engaged percentage is now 10 points higher, that's good news. That means, 36 percent of managers and executives are currently engaged.
However that percentage should give every one pause. If the "best work engagement" means 64 percent of managers are still disengaged that sounds more like a business problem than exciting news. Or that "nationwide, 30 percent of employees are engaged," up two percent, meaning organizations are operating with 70 percent of employees disengaged. Imagine what your business could be like if these numbers were reversed!
Engagement is an elusive "golden egg" employers want, but can't get their arms around. There are others. All have one thing in common - trust is a factor:
1. If you want engagement - you need trust. If engagement were as simple as motivational folklore expounds, pithy sayings, ping pong tables, and constant recognition would not just prevail, it would actually work. But, engagement can't be bought. Lack of engagement is a symptom, not the problem. The problem is distrust, not disengagement. If you want engagement, you need trust. Trust doesn't cause engagement, but research confirms it's a requirement for it.
2. If you want innovation - you need trust. Ideas can't be pulled from heads, they must be willingly given. And they're only given to those we trust. In fact, according to researchers at University of Jyväskylä, Finland, "Organizational trust is one of the key factors in the creation of a social environment in which ideas are freely generated, honestly assessed and selected, and collectively transformed into profitable new products and services."
3. If you want to keep high performers - you need trust. One thing about high performers - they don't like low trust environments. According to Professor Thomas Britt of Clemson University, "The more employees care about performance the less they tolerate work conditions that do not allow them to perform at an optimal level." Tight controls, low flexibility, micro-management, restricted information, silos, dark-side politics scream distrust. Want to hire and keep the best? Create an environment conducive to collaboration and self-motivation.
4. If you want higher service - you need trust.
4. If you want higher service - you need trust.
5. If you want great bottom line results - you need trust. Consider these results from the Watson Wyatt Worldwide Study: "organizations in which front-line employees trusted senior leadership posted a 42 percent higher return on shareholder investment than those firms in which distrust was the norm." Or the 100 Best Companies to work for research which concludes, "Companies whose employees praise the high levels of trust in their workplace are, in fact, among the highest performers, beating the average annualized returns of the S&P by a factor of three."
Who wouldn't want these golden eggs of high engagement, more innovation, top performers, great customer service, and increased profitability? Building trust is not a "nice" thing to do, it's a strategic one. The currency of the new workplace is trust. People who understand how to operate with authentic trust, and build and sustain winning trust cultures, will be rewarded with the "golden eggs" that trust brings.
More about the trust currency you need for the new workplace:
- Building Trust in a Skeptical Era: Three Basics
- Reality Check: Do You Know the Impact of Trust?
- In the New Workplace - Trust Begets Trust
- Download "Operating with Trust," a complimentary chapter from my book, The Titleless Leader.
